Hi, how are you? I'm just a ECer dropping cards and ran across one of your ilk today. At the bottom of your site is a gods-awful ugly bar that says "[Blog name] Sponsored by IzeaRanks.com". Yeah, it's fugly.

If that wasn't bad enough, when I tried to overlook that nasty thing and drop a card on you anyway (a blogger's got to get paid sometimes too, ya know) I COULDN'T DO IT! Your "Sponsored by IzeaRanks.com" script interferes with the EC widget!

Of course, I'm not using Internet Explorer, so that might be the problem. I dunno. I don't care enough to actually open another browser and give it a shot- especially since I was able to drop on everyone else using this same browser.

Please, people, get rid of the widget now, because if you're getting rich off that ugly bar at the bottom, why do you need more traffic?

To Everyone else:

I finally remembered to turn the volume down on my computer before I started dropping and now this. It's a little more than slightly aggravating.

What Jinxy said.

Ah the old Social Spark thingy ... I dumped PPP as soon as they accepted me .. now they're becoming Social Spark, I believe. Guess what .... Google will still strip you of your page rank with widgets like that to detect, and if you think Izearank means anything ... you're sadly mistaken. PPP just isn't worth the hassle. Every time I visited after they accepted me they have all these scammy, crappy companies offering a whole $5 for a review. Thanks, but no thanks. I get $25 for reviews without any code or ugly widgets to deal with.

I really gotta wonder just how bad they were hit for business. I'm so curious. I bet they were making millions before Google slapped em and now, who knows?

I read about RealRank and laughed my patootie off. Seriously, how is that better than PR when not all blogs are signed up? Doesn't make sense.

At any rate, I'm not as interested in their business model as I am irritated about those ridiculous ads. I did some digging and found out they get paid CPM. How much could it be worth to hand the keys to your blog over to an advertising company (who's business model was built on another company's good/bad graces)? Seriously, those banners at the bottom couldn't possibly be worth it. Right?

I know, I know, I'm naive. I tried to stay innocent. Really.

P.S. Read about your good fortune, Graham. Congratulations!

I was a "postie" for a few months, lost my PR and once that happened, the only opps that were "available" to me were pure spam, so I resigned last month. I removed every single post I did for them along with the code for the RealRank thingy. I'm glad to see the backside of them. They were a royal pain to deal with and OMG how cliquish!

If I hadn't already quit, this Social Spark thing would have clinched it for me.

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okey, now that were on the topic, how should I bail out from PPP?

I just did one post for them I thought, one post worth twenty dollars would not match the potential inflow once I have a PR.

@bendzg I deleted my blog from their system when I bailed out. And i removed the code.

I have a feeling that Google literally crushed PPP. Why else would they change their name and start over and try to sell people on the idea that Izearank will compensate them for lack of pagerank. The thing that bothers me the most about them is the quality of company that wants the reviews. I can't maintain any credibility and review these scam companies, nor would I do a review for $5. I've done just a few reviews, but they were 200-400 word reviews and I researched the company beforehand so I knew what I was talking about ...added a lot of graphics and on one blog even placed a front page banner ad for a month so they get a lot when they get a review from me ... but I will never review a company that is scammy or doesn't offer a valid useful service to its customers.

From what I hear, Social Spark is supposed to allow advertisers and publishers to "mingle" ... doesn't matter to me at this point what their new business model is ... I think they will continue to be poison to your blog in the eyes of Google and if you think it doesn't matter, then go ahead and try to be successful with no listings in Google, no pagerank, no organic search results. It can be done but it takes a whole lot more constant work to drum that traffic up.

I came across a couple too. I'm using FireFox and I was able to drop my card. That bar and big ad are ugly. I'm currently with PayPerPost but not for long. Social Spark is not the same as PPP even though it's owned by PPP. It's a different "division".

You won't see that ugly thing on any of my blogs.

Wanted to delete this but can't, so just wiped it myself. La lalalala

I have no problem with people doing paid posting. PPP or whatever, I'll still read the other stuff (if, in fact, there is other stuff)because I understand people need to work. Afterall, I read blogs that have other kinds of ads splattered everywhere- right? However, I was highly annoyed that I had to unfavorite a blog because of this. and that bar just kept following me up and down the page. Very nasty.

Also, I was using FF and couldn't drop so I said to heck with it. I have no reason to try another browser just in case. If I can't drop with the browser I was already using then too bad so sad. Ya know?

Funny because I just came across a site with the bar down the bottom. I use Firefox and I had no problem in dropping a card on that site.

@ Dot Com Mogul

Social Spark was actually in the making long before google started to take away the page rank of posties. I am sure Social Spark has been speeded up because of it, but it wasn't created solely for that reason.

Honestly I hate those advertising bars also, I don't understand why any one would have one on their site for the meager amount of money (I read in a thread most sites will get around $5 per MONTH for them?) offered. But if there is an issue with the script, that is causing other widgets and what not not to work I am sure they will look into it and fix it if possible, things at Social Spark are still very much in the testing stages....so don't see why the melodrama over it is quite necessary.

Actually, Social Spark was slowed down because of it. They put in RealRank first and put Social Spark on the back burner. But yes, Social Spark was started way before the Google Slap.

so don't see why the melodrama over it is quite necessary.

I'm sick of having these kinds of issues (on top of the auto-play music and the audio ads etc) and so I mentioned it. I couldn't drop on that blog and it's only been since they've installed that code. That blog was in my favorites and so I dropped on it regularly. I had no other such drop issues on any of the 100+ blogs I dropped on that day. And because I'm a member of the EC community, I thought I'd mention it here.

What the thread evolved into was something else entirely. Obviously the community felt the need to discuss other issues involving the sponsor of that blog, which is their right.

Here's the weird thing. I have had no problems dropping on the sites that have it. Running Firefox here.

@ Fabulously Jinxed

Well, it seems you are the only person so far to have this issue with it. I'd suggest maybe you contacted said blogger and tell them your issue...they can then go inform the Social Spark people about it (if they have that bar on their site, they are one of the current alpha testers).

Of course you shouldn't have to do that, it is not your responsibility - but if you want to help keep entrecard surfing clean, and continue to be able to visit one of your favourite blogs etc then it makes sense to :)

Full Disclosure: I have been with PayPerPost and now Social Spark Since October 2006. I am a guest blogger for IZEA and have met Ted Murphy personally a couple of times.

That being said, I have the blog sponsorship bar on my blog. In my opinion it is unobtrusive, the screen is taken over only on the first visit, you simply click close and it retracts to the bottom of the browser. I use firefox. I have dropped cards on people who have the blog sponsorship and have had no problem.

I've gotten one comment from an ECer who simply said Social Spark was killing my blog. Well, gee thanks, could you at all be more vague. What in your opinion is the reason my blog was being "killed" by social spark?

The EC widget still works with Social Spark. Maybe those extra seconds it takes to load makes it slower for you to power drop, not my concern. If my blog was on your list of favorites and now you are upset over my using Social Spark then take it off. I'm sticking by a company that has done right by me consistently for a long time.

I run an older system, it doesn't have the resources to load a site that contains a bunch of pop ups, music or whatever, if the site freezes on me, I don't go back.

Someday if I ever get a good system, one that can walk and chew gum at the same time, then I might be able to see what is really out there.

I am participating in the SocialSpark private alpha and have documented a variety of usability improvements during this testing period. On the whole, the system has performed better than expected for a private alpha version. That said, if the Blog Sponsorship is truly stomping EntreCard, I'd like to know and document it ASAP. Can someone please post the blog where they encountered this problem, what exactly failed and/or contact me directly?

Thanks!

Full disclosure: I've p3'd in the past.

I'll mention this on my blog and the postelicio.us forum.

@Benspark. I had read about this problem here, and had not yet encountered it. So when you said you have the ad, I clicked on your blog, waited for everything to load and the task bar said done. I tried to drop on your entrecard, and could not. There isn't even the word 'drop' on yours. I can mouse on it, nothing, I cannot click on it.

I am using FF, winxp. You may want to report it to Izea debuggers. If you'd like a screenshot, just let me know. mysinglemomlifeATgmail.com

If more and more bloggers are going to use this, then the bug needs to be found and fixed. I'd rather not have to delete all my fave blogs because it stops all their scripts from running, know what I mean? Just trying to help, not being hateful, just saying, I could not drop on your blog.

Yep. I used to blog with them until March... I had to ditch them when I noted that my ads were conflicting with their TOS.

Even with a PR2 blog, RR in the top 10%, alexa 120K and 29K Technorati score, I was getting zilch from them. It became just too much to bother with. The segregation didn't help either.

Then I bought some posts from them, and was somewhat horrified: 20% of the posts were crap that I received. I had no way to control the quality of the posts or veto those myself. And then I noted a bigger problem: Only 1 out of the 19 posts actually sent me any traffic.

SS had better work out these kinks. There's a lot to do.

Kenneth

I'm running FF and winxp and had no problem dropping on Bensparks site. shrugs

If you don't have a "Drop" on the widget, you need to make sure you're logged in at Entrecard. I have had no problems dropping on those with sponsorships.

Just for the record, I went in with IE was able to drop.

Also, when I tried to drop on the blog in question I did see the "Drop" and was logged in (I was dropping on my favorites at the time). Dan Rua contacted me and I told him this. I also let him know that I refreshed the blog three or four times to make sure it wasn't a hiccup with my browser. I guess that it may have been an issue with my extensions or something. I did notice that I have to a problem with my FF profile again. HOWEVER, I was able to drop on many more blogs that day, so I can't be sure that it wasn't a hiccup with the SocialSpark code.

ETA: As an FYI, this had nothing to do with power-dropping. I admit to a drop-and-run when there are no new updates or the site is somewhat sexual in nature (such as the sexy guy blog). I try to limit that type of activity, though.

If its helps, Firefox and Vista here and I have had no problems dropping on sites with the sponsorships on it.

I was logged in because I had been dropping all morning, and had been logged in here to read messages.

@Benspark and @Florida Venture Blog, I emailed the screencaps of what I saw, and my FF add ons as requested.

Hope it helps and the bug can be fixed.

You people with that click through screen forget that entrecarders clear their cookies daily, sometimes more than once. I hate it.

I think the code I had in above the Entrecard code was the issue, my Photo-A-Day code. I recently made changes to that. Because I did see the blank drop field. Or rather no drop in the field. however I did go and take out the code above the Entrecard code and drop came back.

Also I got 70 drops today so somebody was able to drop on me. I'll reposition the Photo-A-Day display code and see if that helps.

Clearing cookies daily. What's the point? Not being a jerk just curious.

I haven't had any problems dropping on blogs with the SocialSpark crap, but I see this feature even worse for PPP users than the old version which knocked us all down by Google. I used to write paid posts daily-I've since stopped because the RealRank system is a joke, (my RealRank average is 50-60 out of thousands of blogs and I'm lucky to see opps paying over $7? I don't think so), not to mention only a select few get to test things out before it's released, leaving an entire community of bloggers in the dark. If I see an opp I find interesting to me, or one that might be to my users, I'll write it, but PPP screwed my once PR5 blog over and is now allowing crappy, spam blogs into the system. I can make more money writing reviews on my own, or selling ad spots, where I have control and can actually work with the advertiser one on one-which has actually been better for the advertisers. Just my 2 cents.

@Ben, your blog looks great. I went to check it out and I was also unable to drop. I'm on Firefox. If a blog takes way too long to load it freezes my computer so I had to get out of there, which is disappointing because I would have loved to stick around and read more of your content. :)

Clearing cookies daily. What's the point?

My adware remover runs every single day. And I clear those bad boys (cookies)out. My teenager spends a lot of time of MySpace which loads our computer up with all kinds of junk, so it's a necessary function to keep this poor over-worked thing running.

Jinxed, Thanks for explaining.

@Benspark. The SS ad is gone from your blog now, and I can drop, so i don't know if it was your photo-a-day coding or not. Sorry just now checking it, I was busy last night and most of this morning.

Thanks for checking it out Kat. Yeah the sponsorship ran out today. But there are at least 4 other blogs doing EC that have the blog sponsorship on them and I have had absolutely no issue dropping my cards on them.

Well glad I could help sort out the issue anyway, you said it was your photo-a-day widget, so maybe it was.

Just trying to help make everything work for everybody. I would hate to stop reading friends because of widgets and ads forcing other things not to work right.

Hopefully, all the bugs will be worked out with it and everything else, and we can all just get back to blogging.

It's all getting far too complicated these days. Makes me sorta miss my hand-coded Tripod blog back in 97'....LOL

@BenSpark: Glad to hear you got the entrecard and photo-a-day conflicts worked out. Also glad to hear it was unrelated to SocialSpark.

Thanks Kat and others who helped try to isolate and correct any issues...

Apparently I'm not only a "power-dropper/spammer", I'm also causing havoc all over the blogosphere. With this one little issue. How is that possible? Shoot, if I'd have known it was going to stir this much "controversy" I'd have posted it on my own site. snort

I am not a power-dropper. If you look at my EC stats you'll see this. I drop strictly from my inbox and favorites page. I was irritated because I tried to load a site three-four times in a row- after I already tried to read past that gods-awful ugly thing - and caught a glitch. Not because I'm a power dropper and it was slowing me down. Of course, you're going to believe what you want to believe, and continue to make assumptions about me and other droppers (I guess the ones with the higher priced ads? Even though I'm not sure how I fit in with the popular kids). Good for you.

If anyone else feels the need to send me a link to something, please don't. I don't want to know. Thanks so kindly.